“Specifically, make sure the license is current and active (renewed with continuing education),” the board advises. Also: “Check whether there have been any enforcement actions against the licensee and how long he or she has been licensed.”

The board doesn’t want to reveal too much, however. Three years ago, it stubbornly fought efforts to post formal accusations of wrongdoing on the Web, even after other agencies put up the records. At the time, board members said they were worried that posting the documents would hurt accountants.

Now, the board wants special legislation authorizing it to remove online information about citations and fines after five years, if the fines are less than $1,500. The board isn’t proposing to expunge the actions – the fines and citations would still be on an accountant’s permanent record. The board just doesn’t want information about these minor infractions easily accessible to the public.

Board agendas, meeting minutes and a staff report on the proposal provide no explanation for why the board would want to conceal these records or how that would help protect the public. The earliest documented reference to removing the information appears to be in draft minutes from the November meeting of the board’s Committee on Professional Conduct, where Enforcement Division Chief Rafael Ixta is quoted as saying that if the board wants to remove citations and fines from the website it should approve bill language already developed by staff.

A Dec. 31 staff report says that the board has been so far unsuccessful selling the language to any state legislators because of opposition voiced at the November meeting by the Center for Public Interest Law, an organization based at the University of San Diego School of Law that monitors consumer protection boards. The center regularly opposes any proposals that make it difficult for consumers to find out about licensees and says there’s no reason for this plan.

“Board disciplinary action is not a common event,” said Robert Fellmeth, the center’s executive director. “Cite and fine is not as serious as a suspension or a (license) revocation, but it’s not spurious either. They have things less than cite and fine – they can warn you,” he said.

Fellmeth likened citations and fines to a “fin out of water,” an indication that there may be more serious problems with a licensee. As a result, he said, consumers should have the right to know the full regulatory history of licensed professionals before hiring them.

“If you’ve got two people to choose from and one’s got a cite and fine and one’s got an absolutely clear record, you might like to know that,” he said.

Indeed, Fellmeth found it strange that the board would go to the effort to cite and fine an accountant only to conceal it from the public later.

“It’s kind of (self-)insulting to say ‘We just did something, but it’s not important for you to know about it,’ ” he said.

Such behavior from these agencies is not unusual. In October, an Orange County Register investigation revealed that some of the state’s most important consumer protection boards regularly ignore their own disciplinary guidelines. In fact, the Register found that the state’s entire consumer protection system is so beset by flaws that it actually encourages lenient discipline and undermines public safety.

Asked whether the new proposal is intended to protect accountants, board spokeswoman Lauren Hersh didn’t answer directly, saying instead that the board doesn’t want truly serious violations to be lost in a sea of minor, administrative infractions.

“The CBA wants to ensure disciplinary actions focused on practice activities and competency are not overshadowed by what could be, after five years, a large volume of citations and fines that are primarily administrative in nature, and may no longer be timely,” Hersh wrote in an email. “The CBA was looking to avoid the volume of citation and fine information from hampering consumers looking to find out if a license has been disciplined, suspended or revoked.”

Hersh also wanted to be clear on the differences between citations and fines and more serious disciplinary actions.

“A citation and fine is issued primarily for administrative violations,” she wrote. “An example of cause for an administrative citation and fine would be a licensee failing to respond to a CBA request for information. Disciplinary actions are preceded by a formal accusation, and often a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. An example of cause for disciplinary action would be gross negligence in the practice of public accountancy, and could result in suspension or revocation of a license. The CBA has historically disclosed disciplinary actions on its website.”

Under the board’s proposal, Hersh said, information about citations and fines “will always be available should a consumer contact the CBA to request a copy,” even after it’s removed from the website. But she indicated that the board isn’t optimistic that the plan will be implemented.

“An author for this proposal has not been found,” Hersch wrote, “and due to opposition voiced at the November CBA Meeting, staff does not anticipate finding an author for this proposal.”

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